A Venue of Vultures, A Murder of Crows, and A Unkindness of Ravens
by Viktor Vaughn
Summary: Three mythology-type short stories about Vultures, Crows, and Ravens.
1. Vulture

A vulture was hacking at my feet. It had already torn my boots and stockings to shreds, now it was hacking at the feet themselves. Again and again it struck at them, then circled several times restlessly round me, then returned to continue its work. A gentleman passed by, looked on for a while, then asked me why I suffered the vulture.

"I'm helpless," I said. "When it came and began to attack me, I of course tried to drive it away, even to strangle it, but these animals are very strong, it was about to spring at my face, but I preferred to sacrifice my feet. Now they are almost torn to bits."

"Fancy letting yourself be tortured like this!" said the gentleman. "One shot and that's the end of the vulture."

"Really?" I said. "And would you do that?"

"With pleasure," said the gentleman, "I've only got to go home and get my gun. Could you wait another half hour?"

"I'm not sure about that," said I, and stood for a moment rigid with pain. Then I said: "Do try it in any case, please."

"Very well," said the gentleman, "I'll be as quick as I can."

During this conversation the vulture had been calmly listening, letting its eye rove between me and the gentleman. Now I realized that it had understood everything; it took wing, leaned far back to gain impetus, and then, like a javelin thrower, thrust its beak through my mouth, deep into me. Falling back, I was relieved to feel him drowning irretrievably in my blood, which was filling every depth, flooding every shore.


	2. Crow

I wake up. My vision is groggy and my eyes are swimming with tears. Or are they really tears? The rain keeps falling incessantly on the rocks. The blood mixes with water to form puddles, but it is slowly getting dissolved as it pours heavily. Then I start to remember.

It was only drizzling then, but the gloominess did not affect me. Hell, nothing could dampen my spirit then. After enduring years of travel in the stormy seas of love, I had finally seen land. And what a glorious feeling it is – the love of your life, saying a single word – "Yes" , and you feel all the world around you disappear until there's only her face glowing with happiness and blushing crimson. And to think I finally won her hand!

She was beyond beautiful, intelligent with a quick wit and to top it all, she was unaware of all this. I think it was that fact which, in the end, got us together. Once I told her how big a fool she was, to have ended up with me. She only laughed, the way only she could, her eyes laughing the most.

And there I was – with my best friend, on the beach, boozing away my happiness. The sun had almost set. It was a vanilla sky, but dark clouds were slowly forming. The drops of rain started falling on my half closed eyes while I realised that I had not felt this content for a long time. When I finally told my friend the good news, I saw a glint of disappointment in his eyes, but it disappeared as quickly as it came and he was back to usual goofy self. I never blamed him though – he was one of the umpteen people who had eyes for her, but never had worked up their courage. And he always said jokingly afterwards – love unsaid is love eternal.

We were sitting by the rocks as darkness spread around us. The cacophony of crows which had blared on till a moment ago, was fading off. Crows are spirits who had to leave their bodies, with things undone in their lives, my grandmother used to say. I lazily threw a stone at one perched on a rock and it flew away. The sea was lashing out on the rocks below us now. I stood on the edge of the rocks, beer bottle in one hand, and shouted out her name. It echoed all over. " You are one crazy bastard", my friend said, half amused, half angry. I took a swipe at him.

And I slipped. Nothing to hold. Darkness beneath me. Until he grabbed my hand. I could see the exertion on his face as he tried to pull me up. But suddenly it stopped. His face changed. Was it sorrow or was it a look of triumph? Or was it revulsion? And I fell.

I have to clear my vision. Get a hold of myself. Have to live. But curiously, I felt no pain. I had to shout for help. I raised my voice but no sound came. All I could hear were the cries of crows. Finally my eyes cleared. I could see the rocks from high up and a body laid in a pool of blood. My body.

Realization hit me. I flapped my wings and was flying now. I have to fly. To her. I'm the crow now.


End file.
